Digital Distribution
The text below is the definition of digital distribution according to U.S. Legal. Digital Distribution is a distribution method in which content is delivered without the use of physical media, normally by downloading from the internet straight to a consumer's home. Digital distribution overrides conventional physical distribution methods, like paper or DVDs. A consumer can log on to an approved website that offers preview samples, singles or full albums online for download. It is transferred from the internet web server to the individual user's computer hard drive. Distribution programs are being improved to offer more secure on-line transactions, consumer licensing, and anti-piracy measures. (U.S. Legal, n.d.) For all intents and purposes, digital distribution completely removes the first sale doctrine from play. Through digital distribution, you are now entering a license agreement with the copyright holder. Your rights as a consumer only extend insofar as having the right to privately enjoy that product for your own personal use. Your “copy” is no longer eligible to be transferred to another party as well (Nisbet, n.d.). This has big implications in our society and in our libraries. The transfer of that product stops with you according to the copyright holder. Your music, movies, and video games are now being treated more like services than media and recordings. The greatest example of digital distribution gone awry is DRM. Also known as digital rights management. DRM is best described by the following. “''Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies attempt'' to control what you can and can't do with the media and hardware you've purchased.” (Electronic Frontier Foundation, n.d.) DRM is software that restricts your use of a product in a heavily noticeable way. A modern example of DRM technologies that received a large amount of negative backlash from the public was the application of Denuvo to the release of Sonic Mania for PC (Frank, 2017). The game required an active internet connection to play even though the majority of the game’s content was single player (Frank, 2017). The internet connection was required to authenticate the game as legitimate. If your internet was down you couldn’t play the game. After dealing with slumping sales on PC in comparison to other platforms Sega finally modified the Denuvo DRM protection for the game and eventually removed it (Bloom 2019). Simply put, DRM sacrifices consumer rights for publisher security. The pc video game industry as a whole has moved away from the physical distribution of games and towards digital downloads through content providers such as Steam. For the librarian, DRM and Digital Distribution bring up many questions and concerns. If a school library is outfitted with iPads and the district changes to Kindles. Most software will need to be repurchased for the new platform. This includes ebooks as well since many are locked to the platform they were purchased on. For the library which focuses on sharing information with the community, DRM and Digital Distribution potentially stand to cripple the very mission statement of the library. DRM directly restricts how libraries can operate by eliminating the secondary transfer of works to others (Nisbet, n.d.). The Pay-Per-Use model that DRM promotes favors corporate owners rather than fulfilling the original intentions of copyright law (Nisbet, n.d.). Furthermore, digital distribution favors those that can financially afford access to the resources they want. The purpose of the library is to help provide resources and information to people from all walks of life. When a library cannot lend resources, how does it function as a library? If society continues to embrace DRM and cloud services this will be the question we ultimately will face. Digital Copyrights presents more problems for the modern consumer and librarian then one would initially realize. Works Cited Bloom, R. (2019, March 09). Sonic Mania to remove Denuvo DRM on PC. Retrieved June 30, 2019, from http://www.tssznews.com/2019/03/08/sonic-mania-to-remove-denuvo-drm-on-pc/ Electronic Frontier Foundation. (n.d.). DRM. Retrieved June 30, 2019, from https://www.eff.org/issues/drm Frank, A. (2017, August 30). Sonic Mania on PC has surprise DRM, but at least it's now playable offline. Retrieved June 30, 2019, from https://www.polygon.com/2017/8/30/16226024/sonic-mania-pc-issues-offline-play-denuvo-drm Nisbet, M. (n.d.). Digital Rights Issues PDF. Washington D.C.: ALA American Library Association. US Legal, Inc. (n.d.). Digital Distribution Law and Legal Definition. Retrieved June 30, 2019, from https://definitions.uslegal.com/d/digital-distribution/ Digital Resources You can find more resources concerning Digital Distribution & DRM here. Example of DRM gone wrong VICE History of DRM The Guardian: Defective by Design Article''''